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Thursday, 2 August 2012

Necrons: "The List" Updated 1850

A little while ago I threw up what I thought was THE list for 6th with 'Crons in the UK at 1850.
I stand by that list as a freakin' tough army.
However, we learn and we adapt - mainly through experience.
More games with it under the belt and more tweaks, slow and gradual.

As a starting point, this was the original list (don't worry, it has changed! your not reading the same post!):

It's tough and brings a lot of shooting. However, Wraiths and weak troops are the odd elements out here. Over playtesting I have changed several elements.

The first change was to drop out one unit of Wraiths, up the other to 6 strong.With the points freed from this I began to experiment with 2 elements:
1) Upgrading one unit of Scythe/Haywire Warriors to Veil Immortals (still with 1 Haywire Crytpek)
2) Upgrading one Annihilation Barge to a Doom Scythe

Why these changes?
The Doom Scythe is something that I'd wanted to try in 5th but it was simply too expensive for a skimmer. Now, as a flier, it has the chance to do more than deep strike, fire and die. It streaks on from reserve and it can truly reap havoc. It also provides the army with a nice easy way of dealing with Terminators and Nob Bikerz..easy vehicle killing too if I need it.. but to be honest, there is not a vehicle in the game that's not going to go down to the massed ranged Haywire.
It also keeps the Flier saturation nice and high, whilst not having too much off the board. That being said, the more I play, the more I find Turn's 1 & 2 very fraught when going second. Which, whenever I have the choice, I like to do with a flier army (only if the enemy also have fliers). So it is very important to have stuff that is survivable on the board from the start.

This was the thinking that brought back the Immortals in to the folds of the Necron army. I've not been playing without them for long at all, maybe just a dozen games, but I do feel the need to bring them back.
They increase the survivability of my troops and they also maintain, if not increase, the mobility of the scoring 'Crons.

This works great, but I still feel the pressure turn 1 and 2 with this volume of models off the board. This is partly due to the expense of Wraiths (in this context) and the Doom Scythe

So to tweak this I am proposing going 2 ways for the next dozen or so games to playtest:

List 1 is very similar to above:

2 Overlords on Barges

2 Courts - 3 Haywires, 1 Veil

3 x 5 Warriors - Night Scythes

2 x 10 Immortals

Doom Scythes

2 x Annihilation Barges

This has the added bodies on the table, which can be placed as far back on the board or in the most secure, remote location, able to Veil anywhere they like when the flier wing hits turn 2. They are also scoring and fast, with fantastic damage output at range, rather than dealing with RCL (Random Charge Length) for the Wraiths to do their work.

However, the extra points for the Doom Scythe cost do take models off the board, in exchange for the S10 AP1 weapon. I am, having played a few games with the Doom Scythe, thinking that I may drop it back down to an annihilation barge and grabbing a 4th Night Scythe.. this would look like this:

2 Overlords on Barges

2 Courts - 3 Haywires, 1 Veil

3 x 5 Warriors in Night Scythes

1 x 10 Immortals - Gauss, Night Scythe

1 x 10 Immortals - Gauss

3 x Annihilation Barges

This is a lot of expenditure on Troops - 1205 including Courts and Fliers, but it gives me 5 incredibly mobile and effective troop choice and 4 fliers - 9 units at, on average, 130ish points each..good value for the points there. Effective against the three main/broad unit types - vehicles (S7, Gauss, Haywire), massed infantry (everything has multiple shots per gun) and elite infantry (torrent)..
The Overlords have Scythes and Shackles for annoyance factor, plus Tesla S6 for glance stripping on vehicles. The Annihilation Barges do their thing even better in 6th..

So, these are playtested, albeit briefly for the last 2 lists, but they are looking so very strong. I have been trying out a Deathwing list allied with IG platoons and Aegis Defence lines to plug the gaps in DW lists as well as an updated Draigo list to really push the envelope with them.. the Crons have been performing well against them, but these latest lists will really put the hurt on them.. I think. I need to test against my Wolves lists though, the tournament winning list is one of the strongest I have played with so far in sixth and know that that can be improved.. the Southern UK GT Heats are in October and I have til then to perfect the army..thoughts guys? Where are the weaknesses and gaps that you'd exploit?

Haha! Crap...right, consider it done..the image on your site yeah? I'll get it up now!

The Haywires are savage. When the Fliers come on Turn 2, even if it is only 2 out of 3, or 1 and the Doom Scythe whatever.. they are just nasty. 8 S5 shots from the Voltaic either hit infantry bodies hard, or they flat out kill their AV target. It could be a speeder with jink, a rhino or an AV13/14 beast - they'll go down in one volley. Even in cover it is more than enough, especially when you consider you can add another glance from the 5 rapid fire Gauss weapons from the Warriors. When you spread that across 3 units, it's evil. It is very cinematic too, the fliers sweeping on and the invasion beams (green obv :) ) streaming down from the wormhole, evil alien robots stepping from the light and blasting away tanks with their alien tech.. supremely sci-fi. On topic, they do have utility as I mention in the article, mobility, scoring..the biggest issue is the lack of ability to get back into the flier! lol. But then, this is why the Veil Immortals are so useful.. mobility, survivable and offensive output.

I have added the logo and link :) many thanks for pimpage and the hard work in finding cool posts!

Lances are fine, but they are expensive and soon as fliers are really good (for a while anyway lol), why not combine the benefits? The Haywire's real benefit is the hull point stripping, it is so easy, no penetrating roll, just on a 2+ you glance..so good.

That's what I am thinking. Haywire will just strip hull points regardless (unless you roll a 1!). While the lance is effected by armour value of what you're firing at. I think it is something I definitely need to look at.

The big consideration with the Harbingers of the Storm is the delivery mechanism. They only have a 12" range, so you have to get them into range - it's either a Veil of Darkness or the Night Scythe. The Veil has unlimited range and will be accompanied by a strong scoring unit (in my case with Immortals) but has the small risk of deep strike mishap, but more likely that the unit may scatter out of effective range. For Night Scythes and Invasion Beams, the effective range is 42" from your table edge, with a 24" move, 6" disembark, then the 12" range of the weapon. Now, given that this will be used at earliest Turn 2, this is more than enough, or if you are playing the short edge deployment and the opponent is very defensive, then Turn 3...plenty of time to really impact the game. If you are playing either of the other 2 deployments, they will impact on the turn they arrive.

Re your earlier point about getting back in the Scythe - as per p.80 of rulebook, you cannot embark a zooming flier. Until there is some clarification through a later FAQ, you can INvade the board but not Evade enemy fire by getting back in the ship.. d'oh!

you have to have "Hover" in the vehicles special rules and Scythes don't have it.. if you check out the reference pages at the back of the rulebook, pg 413 I think for Crons..you'll see no "H" in their rules, nor is it in the FAQ :(

No way at all to get back.. d'oh!!

Shame, but it really isn't that bad...certainly it just means they need support to maintain their lives.. not an issue, overwhelming fire power is the best defence!

Me and ven have been talking about haywire and shooty crons for the past week. I think you finally convinced me yesterday. I tried the below list at took some names !! That destroyer unit was junked like we discussed for more immortals, also added more resilience to my warlord, so now my mini death star has one type of character for challanges (choppy, tanky and throw away):

Nice G, that's what I'm talking about! You stil feeling the need for that Solar Pulse? Each of the Scythe mounted warriors have 1 or 2 Haywire Hotties?

My playtesting yesterday convinced me about the above lists, definitely strong for now.. until everyone gets Flakk missiles :( then its back to old school Crons,but for now - these type of armies are going to be pretty tough

But one get the job done nice and you can always double up with 2 squads if you need to.

The pulse? Yea, still liking it, if for no other reason to hunker down for a turn if you go second while you wait for the flyers to come in and then pounce with everything....defend, defend, then roar out guns blazing. If you go first you can use it to get rid of night fight too maybe for that important first blood.